This chapter is from the book

This chapter is from the book

Last hour, you learned a couple of ways to open a blank image file. I sneaked
it in ahead of this hour so you could try out some tools. But in this hour I'll
review that task and add some details about how to save what you create.

In this hour you will

Create a new image file

Browse for an image file to work on

Save a new image

Save changes to an image

Undo changes to an image

Change an image's resolution

Prepare an image for use on the Web

Starting a New Image File

Let's take another quick look at the New dialog box before we move on.
Here it is again, in Figure 3.1, just
to refresh your memory.

Starting at the top, you have the option of immediately naming your image,
or leaving it untitled until you save it. Because I am almost always in a hurry,
I skip that step and immediately consider page size. In this version of Elements
and in the recent release of Photoshop 7, this dialog box has been modified
to add a pop-up menu of possible page sizes, shown in Figure
3.2. The default is horizontal, 7x5 inches.

Figure 3.2 Most of the standard American
and European page dimensions are included.

Choose a page size that's appropriate for what you want to do,
remembering that screen formats are horizontal, while magazine covers and
illustrations are more likely to be vertical. Landscapes and portraits dictate
different orientations because of the shape of the subject.

If you have something on the clipboard that's waiting to be pasted into
your new image, the dialog box will open with that item's dimensions in
place of whatever other numbers might be there. You can still override it and
choose a larger size, if you want.

Resolution is a tricky issue that we'll discuss in depth in the section,
"Adjusting Resolution." Meanwhile, if your art project is to be viewed
on the screen, perhaps as part of a PowerPoint slideshow or on the Web, or if
you are just playing, as we are now, use 72 pixels/inch as the resolution.

You have only three choices for mode in this dialog box. If you're
working in color, you must choose RGB Color as the mode. Grayscale lacks color,
and Bitmap means simply black or white pixels, with no grays at all. If you want
to use Indexed Color mode, you'll need to select that option from the
Image, Mode menu after creating the file using RGB Color or Grayscale.

The Contents options refer to what appears on the first layer of the image
when it's created for you. White is the usual choice. Background applies
whatever color is the current background color in the toolbox. (By default,
it's white.) Transparent backgrounds are indicated by a sort of gray and
white checkerboard effect. (You can change its color in the Preferences.)
Transparent backgrounds are extremely useful when you are creating Web
graphics.

When you're ready, click OK or just press Return to open the new
image.